Matthew Wright. PBA IMAGES
Matthew Wright turned 26 today and it was only fitting that the birthday celebrant was the one who put the icing on the cake Wednesday night.
Wright accounted for Phoenix’s last five points inside the final minute, burying the game-tying triple and assisting on Doug Kramer’s game-winner with 3.0 seconds remaining.
“It’s the only thing I wanted, man. I just wanted to win today,” he said after the Fuel Masters’ 74-72 win. “It was a big game, really important for both teams We were down all game but they let the door open. We’re just lucky to capitalize on some mistakes.”
The Fil-Canadian dead shot, who had 16 points, five rebounds and three steals, said he already knew the kind of defense TNT was going to throw at him in Phoenix’s last offensive possession and he read it perfectly resulting to Kramer’s short baseline hook that won the game.
“I knew that they’re gonna double. I know Coach Josh (Reyes), I know the scheme that they’re trying to do, they’re not gonna let me get off a good shot. I knew right when I touched the ball, when I came off that screen that I was gonna be met with either Kelly (Williams) or Mo (Tautuaa),” he recalled.
“So it was just a matter of Doug positioning himself in the right spot, and a matter of me just making a good pass. It just happened very instinctively.”
Phoenix won despite playing catchup majority of the game and trailing by as much as 13.
“We’re a veteran team. We have some young guys, like myself, Jason (Perkins). But we got some very savvy vets who know how to win: RJ (Jazul), JC (Intal), Willie (Wilson), Doug, Jeff (Chan). They know how to win games, they know how to close out games. So I feel like we have a good batch of guys to go far this year.”
Wright likes his team’s chances heading into its last three games in the elimination round.
“This is the PBA, man. Anything can happen, so we’re not taking any of those teams lightly. We are confident in our abilities, and we’re expecting to go 4-and-0 in our last four games. We took care of today, so we just gotta take care of the next three.”